Real Electric Car Battery Costs Remain Elusive

Recent reports about the declining cost of electric car batteries raise as many questions as they answer. According to a report from Bloomberg News last week, EV battery costs fell to $689 per kilowatt-hour during the first quarter of this year, down from $800/kWh a year earlier. It wasn’t clear from the report if that cost is for cells, all components and software—or a total installed cost. Any quoted price per kilowatt-hour can be partial and hide costs that produce a misleading figure in either direction. The relatively high cost of lithium ion battery packs are often cited as the biggest obstacle to mass adoption of electric cars and plug-in hybrids. This week, the UK Committee on Climate Change issued a study (PDF) claiming that costs for lithium-ion automotive batteries currently come in at approximately $800 per kWh—translating the pack cost of a 93-mile-range EV (l...